The City of Lost Children

"Where happily ever after is just a dream."

1995 1h 52m FR

👍

7.2

SOLID

🍅

80%

FRESH

👌

METACRITIC

⭐

7.4

IMDB

★7.2TMDB · 1,272🍅80%Rotten Tomatoes●73Metacritic★7.4IMDB · 74,855

FantasyScience FictionAdventure

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

A scientist in a surrealist society kidnaps children to steal their dreams, hoping that they slow his aging process.

“Where happily ever after is just a dream.”

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Cast

Ron Perlman
One
Dominique Pinon
The Diver / The Clones
Judith Vittet
Miette
Daniel Emilfork
Krank
Jean-Claude Dreyfus
Marcello
Geneviève Brunet
The Octopus
Odile Mallet
The Octopus
Mireille Mossé
Miss Bismuth

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Writers: Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Gilles Adrien, Marc Caro
Languages: French
Countries: France, Germany, Spain, United Kingdom

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Earned back only 10% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

31 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 4 countries: France, Germany, Spain, United Kingdom.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

CAST

Did you know

253+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, shot by Darius Khondji. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Angelo Badalamenti. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Hervé Schneid shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Ron Perlman and Dominique Pinon and Judith Vittet carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Jean-Pierre Jeunet directs. Darius Khondji behind the camera. Angelo Badalamenti scores. Hervé Schneid cuts. A commercial under-performer on release. Produced in France, Germany, Spain, United Kingdom. Dialogue in French.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Earned back only 10% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.
231 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
3International production across 4 countries: France, Germany, Spain, United Kingdom.
4253+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.
5Directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, shot by Darius Khondji. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
6Original score by Angelo Badalamenti. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
7Editor Hervé Schneid shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
8Ron Perlman and Dominique Pinon and Judith Vittet carry the top of the cast.
9Marketing tagline: "Where happily ever after is just a dream.".
10IMDB entry: tt0112682 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
11Classified under 15 themes, including "rescue", "friendship", "island", "dreams".
12Released under 14 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Darius Khondji
Original score: Angelo Badalamenti
Editing: Hervé Schneid
Production design: Marc Caro
Costume design: Jean-Paul Gaultier
Makeup / hair: Nathalie Tissier
Sound: Vincent Arnardi
Stunt coordinator: Patrick Cauderlier
Runtime: 112 min · 1h 52m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $18,000,000
Box office: $1,738,611
Return: 10% of budget
Original language: FR
Certification (US): R
IMDB: The City of Lost Children (1995)
Rotten Tomatoes: 80% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 73/100
IMDB rating: 7.4/10 · 74,855 votes
MPAA: R

Awards

5 wins & 14 nominations total

Also by

Jean-Pierre Jeunet

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

Filipe Manuel Neto2023-06-01
★ 3/10
A visual spectacle with an irritating story that doesn't justify the time spent watching the film. I loved – like almost everyone else – “Amelie” and I didn't particularly like “Delicatessen”. However, I didn't give up on Jean Pierre Jeunet and decided to see this film. I confess that I was impressed by the visual quality, but this is practically a trademark of the director, who seems to have a particular predilection for the color green (it was quite evident in Amelie, and in this film it was once again the dominant color of the chromatic palette). However, it returns to being, as “Delicatessen” had been, a rather strange, depressing and bizarre film. More bizarre than some Tim Burton movies, which isn't easy. In view of what has been described above, I think it will not be surprising if I say that it is a film that is basically based on visual and special resources. There's immense visual effort here, and there's no doubt that Jeunet is behind it. The cinematography is very good, with an excellent filming work, and the sets deserve our attention. The costumes were designed by Jean Paul Gautier, so they're practically haute couture (with all the oddities that usually implies) and the soundtrack does a good job, too. The cast is quite complete, and the characters are complicated and difficult to understand. I can even say that some characters look like caricatures or things out of Coney Island, from some freak show. I liked, however, the effort made here by Dominique Pinon, one of the great French actors of our time. He doesn't play just one character, but a legion of clones. I also liked Ron Perlman, he's good for this type of film, but honestly, I feel that the actor wasn't comfortable either with his role or with the material he was given. I don't know to what extent the language barrier was actually the cause of that, but it was the feeling I got. The film is, essentially, a depressing and decadent futuristic dystopia, where a long-deranged scientist kidnaps children to steal their dreams. The basis of the plot is somewhat reminiscent of “The Island of Dr. Moreau”. Then we have a duo of Siamese twins who make up the main villains, and behave in an absolutely bizarre way, and a strong man who decides to go in search of his younger brother, kidnapped like many others, in the company of a girl who will help you. However, everything else is extraordinarily complicated. It seems that the script didn't get the attention it deserved: there are parts that are very underwritten, points that don't make any sense, strange twists that seem to happen just to make everything even more strange and out of the ordinary. As a story told, it's an irritating and worthless movie.
CinemaSerf2024-04-07
★ 7/10
The basic premiss of this film is really quite simple. "Krank" (Daniel Emilfork) is super-bright, slightly deranged and lonely. He lives on a remote oil rig with only whom he can manufacture for companionship. His biggest problem is that he cannot dream. Without them he will die. He must, therefore, obtain as many other people's dreams as he can. To that end he constructs an entire community of one-eyed servants, a brain that lives in tank feeding on Alka Seltzer and some clones that are all led by the diminutively menacing "Martha" (Mireille Mossé). This "family" might have made "Dr. Moreau" proud. He hopes that they will help to collect enough kids to perpetuate his immortality. The thing is, all those he does manage to collect are nightmares because the children he kidnaps are all petrified of him. He needs some nice ones! Meantime, his army of robotic creations alight on "Denree" (Joseph Lucien) without reckoning on his determined strongman brother "One" (Ron Perlman) who is determined to fetch him back. He duly travels to their offshore structure and aided by the feisty "Miette" (Judith Vittet) and a lot of green wool, sets about trying to rescue his little brother - and all the others trapped in the installation - and to make sure that "Krank" and his hoodlums plunder no more. Emilfork is on great form as the archetypal mad scientist and Dominique Pinon looks like he's having great fun as the clones who do their masters's bidding whilst injecting some silly humour. There's an hybrid of stories here - part "Frankenstein", part "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" with costumes eccentrically designed by Jean-Paul Gaultier, and it does rather meander at times - but this is a film about it's look and it's sheer imagination. It's as if someone had allowed Messrs. Caro and Jeunet unfettered access to the props department at MGM or Universal and told them to use what they can. They have the imagination of a child and boy do they use it. Mechanical gadgets, gizmos, green mists, dense fog. You name it and these allow the whole thing to imbue us with a sense of a playful, dark, adventurousness. It's comedic at times, threatening at others and there's a surprisingly effective chemistry between the usually wooden Perlman and his juvenile co-star Vittet that helps anchor the fantasy. It's surreal and gorgeous to watch and you'll need to suspend your expectations of linear, structured, cinema if you are to enjoy it. It's unique and creative. Probably a bit "bonkers" too!